Tubular railway-rail



(No Model.)

Patented May 15, 1883 fave/afina' g UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ALMERON MCKENNEY, or oHIoAGo, ILLINOIS.

TUBULAR RAILWAY-RAIL.

I SPECIFICATION forming Ypart of Letters Patent No. 277,765, dated May 15, 1883.

Application nien september 25. lees. (No model.)

Y .To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALMERON MGKENNEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ghicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certainl new and useful Improvements in Tubular Railway-Rails; and I hereby declare the following to be a full,

- clear, and exact description of the same.

phone wires.

Y In a word, spikes are wholly inadequate and.

' My invention relates to the class of tubular rails which comprise a base-plate having longitudinal flanges projecting upward, and an arched head fitting over the iianges and resting on the base-plate, which is recessed or grooved to receive the head, the base-plate and head being jointed alternately; and my improvementconsists in the manner in which I construct these parts and secure them to the ties or stringers, whereby the objects above recited are accomplished, all as hereinafter more fully set forth.

Heretofore it has been the` practice to use spikes as the medium for securing the rails in position. A spike, however, driven into wood hasbut littlepower of holding the parts together, especially in a vertical direction,` since it holds only by the friction against its smooth sides and leaves the parts intended to be held together free to vibrate vertically, for when the ends of a rail have been sprung downward and have reacted a few times the main hold ot' the spike on the timber is destroyed. Moreover, by the splitting and breaking ot' the fiber, incident to the driving, the strength of the timber is impaired and its hold against the side-th rust ofthe train rendered weak and of little avail against the displacement of the gage or line.

have no proper place about a railwaytrack. It is no cure ofV these defects to shim up the under side or to provide any amount of support, either in the way of wood or metal, underneath, so long as these parts are loose and at 'liberty to be separately sprung downward by the blow of every passing wheel and then suddenly react, for though the vibration be very slight at first, still, if there be any at all, it rapidly increasesI The trouble is not in the mere progressive wave of deflection which travels with the engine, but rather that the parts are not contined together to be acted on as one piece; and thev true remedy, therefore, is to overlap the parts in equal lengths and then to contine them, so that both mustvibrate together. To place heavy metal plates under the ends of rails does not remedy the evil, for this is simply furnishing a-convenient anvil to pound them on. Neither is it any remedy to make the bearings rigid by any means whatever at the joints. The mere undulation, above mentioned, of the rails, incident to the burden of the passing train, cannot ot' course be provided against in any practicable manner; but this is not a matter ot' material consequence, provided it is made uniform. In short, to provide a uniform and smooth bearing comprises the Whole problem, and this is what I aim to accomplish.

1 overcome all the difficulties above. enumerated by having the two-parts of the rail overlap each other in half-lengths, and by forming the head, aswell as the base-plate, with one or two lateral flangesat its base, (one flange being employed for street-car rails and two for other rails,) the flange or flanges of the head fitting snugly and evenly upon the flange or flanges of the base, andthe two parts being secured irml y together and to the stringers or ties by vertical lag-screws passing through the flanges and the stringers or ties, and further stayed and secured by nuts. This construction also leaves the tube wholly unobstructed throughout its entire length, which cannot be the case where transverse bolts are lrail in the form adapted for steam-railways;

Fig. 2, a broken plan vie'w of my improved rail in the form adapted for street-railways; Fig.

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3, a cross-section taken on the line 3 3 of Fig.

1, and Fig. 4 a cross-section taken on the line 4t 4. of Fig. 2.

My improvements are substantially identical in the two forms of` rail shown, and I shall therefore proceed to describe the construction for the T-rails, and subsequently point out the inciden tal differences which necessarily follow their application to Streetcar rails.

Ais the stringer orsleeper; B, the baseplatc of the rail, having two vertical flanges, c, and two lateral iianges, u, the latter being provided with longitudinal recesses t.

U is the arched head, provided with interior longitudinal grooves, s, to receive the tops ot' the flanges v, over which it iits, and with lateral iianges r, adapted to fit snugly within the recesses t in the base-flanges a.

rIhe parts B and C overlap each other in half-lengths, the ends of the head meeting, for example, at the joint q, and the ends ot' the base meeting at thejoint q', half alength away, each part being made continuous over a joint formed in the other. At each joint, whether in the base or head, I secure the parts together, and also to the stringer or sleeper by means of lag-screws D on each side of thejoint. rIhe lag-screw which I employ is formed with heavy threads to take a deep hold on the wood, and m a y be ot' sufficient length to pass through the lateral ilanges of both the head and base, and also through the stringer or sleeper. At the top of the latter it passes through a nut, p, sitting within the wood,iiush with its surface, between which and the head o ofthe screw the two anges a and r are embraced. Thus after the screw has been driven so far as to bring the head down upon the flange all further turning operates to compress the flanges of the two parts together, the head acting uagainst the upper and the nut against the lower one. For streetcar ails, the stringer being generally ot sott wood, I prefer, also, to use a second nut,p, at the under side ot' the stringer, (and which may sit within a recess bringing it iiush with the surface ot' the wood o1' not, as prei'erreih) the eti'ect being to give to the screw a hold upon the wood beyond that secured by the threads alone. Ot course the same construetion may be adopted for other rails, though it is there less essential. For street-car rails, in which the screw passes through the wagontread, it is of course necessary that the top of the screw be tlush with the metal, which must therefore be recessed to receive the head. X'Vith the T- rails, however, this is neither necessary nor desirable. As in either case the screw is driven into position by means of a bit, (which may have a brace otl sufficient length to permit the operatorio work it in an upright position,) I construct the heads ac cording to the requirements. For T-rails a simple square projectiomn, to enter an ordinary bit, will suftce; but for street-car rails it is preferable to make the diameter of ,the recess iu the ilange a little greater than that of the head, so that the bit can be slipped over the head, and to form recesses m in the head, crossing each other at right angles, to be entered by corresponding projections ou the bit. t

In the form of rail shown in Figs. 1 and 3 four screws are used at each joint-two on each side of the headwhereas in the form shown iu Figs. 2 and 4 two only are usedboth on the same side ot' the head-there be ing no flange ou the other side to receive them, the head sitting within a groove, k, in the base ou that side, and the two parts pre senting a straight surface from top to bottom. In both forms, however, the same result is attained in substantially the same way, so far as concerns binding the two parts firmly together and to the sleeper or Stringer, while in each, also, the tubular interior is left unobstructed for the passage ot' electric conducting-wires Z. The facility with which, under my construction above described, the upper portion ot' the ail may be removed and 1'e placed renders the wires more readily accessible than ground-wires have ever been before.

The street-car rail, when constructed with a partly-hollow tread, as represented in the drawings, aii'ords an additional receptacle for wires, of which advantage may be taken, il'

desired.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In combination with a tubular railway railv comprising a laterally-flanged base and laterally-flanged head overlapping cach other in half-lengths, as shown, and with thestringers or tics, the lag-screws D, passing vertically through the lateral langes of both parts and into the stringers or ties, and the nuts l, sitting within recesses in the tops ofthe stringers or ties and receiving the screws, substantially as described.

2. In combination with the tubular rail comprising a vertically and laterally flanged base and an arched and late1ally-ilanged head, said parts overlapping each other in half-lengths, and the head being groovcd longitudinally on its interior to receive the vertical langes ofthe base, and with the stringers or ties, the lagfscrews D, passing through the lateral flanges of' both parts ot the rail into the stringer or sleeper, and the nuts p, through which the screws pass, sitting within recesses in the tops ot' the stringers orties, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a tubular rail comprising a vertically and laterally ianged base and arched and laterally-iianged head, said parts overlapping each other in halt'. lengths, and being secured together and to the stringers or ties by vertical lag-screws D and nuts p, as shown, of thc electric conductingwires Z, passing through the tubular in terior ofthe rai-l, substantially as described.

ALMERON MCKENNEY.

In presence of- J AMES S. MGKENNEY, A. H. GREENWOOD.

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